SodaStream store in Britain shuts down

An Israeli-owned store in England that sold replacement parts for SodaStream closed after two years of weekly boycott protests.

The EcoStream shop in the coastal town of Brighton shut down last week, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

The store sold the recyclable bottles for the SodaStream machines made in the factory in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.

Since September 2012, pro-Palestinian activists from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign have demonstrated in front of the store every Saturday as part of the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. The Sussex Friends of Israel staged regular counterprotests, according to the Chronicle.

“Following a two-year test period, the company has decided to focus its business efforts on other channels,” a SodaStream spokesman told the Jewish Chronicle.

The British department store chain John Lewis recently removed SodaStream products from its shelves as well. — jta